Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each.For further details visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Female Ensemble
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So I actually googled the meaning of ensemble today because it just seems that when a movie is referred to having an ensemble cast, they almost always refer to one that has a lot of famous names, instead of something that is you know an ensemble...one with roles of equal importance...something like Gosford Park. So that's what I'll try to do with my picks, an all female cast with no main characters.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
One of my favourite movies. Set in a girls' boarding school, it naturally has a cast of mostly females. The movie centers around the disappearance of a group of students and a teacher during a picnic outing and follows what happens to the people that are left behind.
8 Women (2002)
I really don't remember much about this movie other than the first time I saw this, it reminded me a lot of Gosford Park but with an all female cast and had a very colourful period setting. Would love to check it out again.
August: Osage County (2013)
The women of the Weston family are forced to face each other and buried secrets are revealed when they converge for funeral. This movie surprised me. I didn't know it was based on a play so I had initially I thought it was one of those movies that didn't have much of story and were often just an excuse to parade a star-studded cast. Suffice to say I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.
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I've only seen August: Osage County and I've also enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
ReplyDeleteI have seen Osage County which was better than I thought it would be. Some great acting in there. I haven't seen the other 2 but they look so good. I'd love to see them especially since 8 Femmes also stars Danielle Darrereux( not sure I spelled her name correctly)
ReplyDeleteIt seems a few of us had low expectations of August: Osage County.
DeleteI feel bad, but I hated Picnic at Hanging Rock. I had really high expectations for that one and it fell short. August: Osage County was amusing. I haven't seen the other one.
ReplyDeletePicnic at Hanging Rock is a masterpiece, Britt! I'm on the Wanderer's side on this one. Lol. Haven't seen the other two.
DeleteI can sort of understand why Brittani didn't like it. It's a slow burn, but I love it. It sort of lingers and just hauntingly gorgeous. And also a pretty faithful adaptation. If you like the movie I recommend the book.
DeleteLove Picnic at Hanging Rock, so beautiful and eerie. It's slow build may not be for everyone but once I got use to its rhythms it was fascinating. I saw it in the theatre on its initial release which is the best way to see it because of its amazing cinematography.
ReplyDeleteI hated August: Osage County. I thought it was clunky and bitter with one of Meryl Streep's worst performances though Margo Martindale was wonderful.
We match! Just watched 8 Women this year and even though it's a bit of an oddity I really enjoyed it.
Love these sort of films and had a hard time narrowing and ended up with six. I split into two entries, one Classic Hollywood and three more contemporary.
Classic first:
Cry “Havoc” (1943)-As WWII rages in the Philippines a group of women volunteer to help the army nurses in a hospital unit on Bataan. Set mostly in their protective bunker and the switchboard that brings increasingly more dire war news this focuses on the struggles and hardships endured by the women as the front moves ever closer. The cast is comprised almost exclusively of great actresses, Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern, Joan Blondell and Fay Bainter among them, with only very brief glimpses of men, including a young Robert Mitchum. A compelling heavy drama leavened by doses of gallows humor.
Westward the Women (1951)-Unvarnished look at the hard road faced by a group of women settlers on a wagon train to California. Robert Taylor, weathered and hard is the rough but fair wagon master and has the only significant male role. Hope Emerson stands out as a plain speaking, no nonsense traveler but all the performances are very good. The cost of the trip is honestly depicted as heavy with human lives. Written by Frank Capra and directed with an unflinching eye by Wild Bill Wellman, an involving, unusual picture.
The Doughgirls (1944)-Frenzied comedy with a dated situation, the housing shortage in DC during WWII, and an amazing cast of brilliant actresses. Ann Sheridan, skillful with a quip or a withering look, Jane Wyman, sweet and endearing but a borderline idiot, and an ultra-glamorous Alexis Smith. They’re former chorus girls who all camp out in one of the few available rooms when they find their recent marriages called into question as many colorful characters pass through. They’re delightful but don't stand a chance when Eve Arden swoops in as a Russian commando stealing scenes with undisguised glee tearing into her character with abandon and wiping everybody out of the picture.
Glad you love Picnic at Hanging Rock too. It is fascinating! Love the theories about what happened to those girls. I thought it was also pretty clever the way the book (the movie too) was written which made it seem like it was based on an actual event that took place.
DeleteAnd the three more recent films:
ReplyDelete8 Women (2002)-As a wealthy French family, comprised it seems entirely of women, gathers for the holiday the patriarch is murdered off stage and they are trapped by a snowstorm to figure out which of the eight has committed the crime, occasionally bursting into song along the way. Unique, wacky and bizarre semi-musical comic murder mystery set during Christmas is jam packed with great French actresses including Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Fanny Ardant and Isabelle Huppert. They make the often preposterous goings on plausible.
Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)-In a dusty Texas town near the location the movie Giant was filmed a devoted group of female James Dean fans reunite 20 years after the film wrapped at the Five & Dime that is was the center of their world. They laugh, argue and reminisce while wondering whether their sole male club member will return. Ultimately long buried secrets are revealed. Highly eclectic cast, Cher, Sandy Dennis, Karen Black and a just starting out Kathy Bates all give excellent idiosyncratic performances. Robert Altman’s filmization of the play he directed on Broadway with the entire cast returning is entertaining and unique.
Tea with Mussolini (1999)-In 30’s Florence young Luca, motherless and ignored by his father due to his illegitimacy, is taken under the wing of the father’s secretary (Joan Plowright), her group of women friends, somewhat affectionately known as The Scorpioni (including Maggie Smith and Judi Dench), as well as old friends of his mother, Georgie and Elsa (Lily Tomlin and Cher). As Mussolini moves the country progressively towards Hitler’s ideology all their lives are affected but the strength of their spirit and devotion to each other never waver.
I've seen Tea with Mussolini, can't say I like it that much.
Delete8 women is perfect for this week - alas I already picked it previously (and I remembered this time) Great film. There was something sad about August but seeing it in stage would be an experience.
ReplyDeleteI was not a fan of Picnic at Hanging Rock - I think I expected something else from what I saw, I also thought it was based on a true story and disappointed when I found it wasn't
Picnic at Hanging Rock - I expected something like the Virgin Suicides and it sort of is. The whole true story bit - I loved the way they sort of trick you into thinking it is. I don't think they even used the line "based on a true event". I think it was just "On Valentine's Day..." something happen and we as an audience just assume it was based on an actual event.
DeleteI'm another that was not a fan of August: Osage County. I thought the performances were good, but the story lacked cohesiveness and felt too much like manufactured melodrama.
ReplyDelete